Manchester United vs Borussia Dortmund Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

The beginning of the traditional pre-season tours has begun after a short holiday for those players involved in Euro 2016, and one edition that is getting bigger with each passing year is the International Champions Cup.

This friendly tournament brings some of the biggest teams from around the world together in three separate editions of the tournament: The Australia edition, the China edition, and the USA/Europe edition. Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund, along with Manchester City, are playing in the China edition this season.

Manchester United’s season last year was a bit hit and miss. Their Premier League campaign was a disaster as they dropped out of the top four again, and they now have to settle for a Europa League campaign next season rather the Champions League. However, on the plus side they did end a long wait for the FA Cup to return to Old Trafford.

This wasn’t enough to save Louis van Gaal though, who was sacked just hours after the FA Cup Final triumph and subsequently replaced with Jose Mourinho. The new manager has wasted no time in trying to sort the Manchester United squad out as well. Villareal defender Eric Bailly has been brought in, followed by Zlatan Ibrahimovic and former Borussia Dortmund player Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Ibrahimovic won’t be involved in the pre-season tour of China, but there’s a very good chance that Mkhitaryan will play against his former club on Friday.

Borussia Dortmund’s play last season, aided greatly by Bundesliga Players’ Player of the Season Mkhitaryan, scintillated viewers at times with the incredibly speed of their attacking play. Ultimately it proved fruitless though as Bayern Munich won both the Bundesliga and the DFB Pokal and they were knocked out of the Europa League by Liverpool.

Mkhitaryan may have been the best player, but they weren’t exactly lacking in other talent throughout the season. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Marco Reus, and Shinji Kagawa were all excellent throughout the season. Reus is expected to be out injured for this tour, but Kagawa and Aubameyang are expected to take part.

Borussia Dortmund have already played a number of pre-season friendlies this month, and largely they have shown that they are still a force to be reckoned with. They have won three of their four friendlies, scoring ten goals and conceding six.

Manchester United, on the other hand, have only taken part in one friendly so far, beating Wigan Athletic 2-0 on Saturday thanks to second half goals from Will Keane and Andreas Pereira. Luke Shaw returned from injury in the first half, and both Eric Bailly and Mkhitaryan made their debuts.

With Dortmund showing that they’re not changing their fast tempo attacking style of play and Manchester United’s forwards keen to impress now that they face competition for a starting line up I think this could be a high scoring affair. Borussia Dortmund’s defence has taken a hit with the loss of Mats Hummels and Manchester United’s attacking threat has increased with their signing of Mkhitaryan.

Odds of 3/4 for Over 2.5 Goals look good value to me, and that’s what I’m backing for my main prediction. I’m going for a high scoring 2-2 draw at 11/1 for my correct score prediction due to both team’s excellent attacking options.